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    The Cereals - With Information on Cultivation, Harvesting and Care of Various Cereal Crops
    The Cereals - With Information on Cultivation, Harvesting and Care of Various Cereal Crops
    The Cereals - With Information on Cultivation, Harvesting and Care of Various Cereal Crops
    Ebook117 pages1 hour

    The Cereals - With Information on Cultivation, Harvesting and Care of Various Cereal Crops

    By Read Books Ltd.

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    This text contains a detailed guide to growing cereals, with information on cultivation, harvesting, and the general care and maintenance of various cereal crops. This volume contains all the fundamental information a farmer would need to know about the cultivation of cereals, from tackling diseases and maximising yields, to manuring and climate influences. Written in plain, concise language and full of helpful tips, this text is perfect for those with little experience, and makes for a worthy addition to any collection of agricultural literature. The chapters of this book include: 'Wheat', 'Milling of Wheat', 'Quality of Wheat', 'Varieties of Wheat', 'Winter Wheats of High Milling Quality', 'Winter Wheats Particularly Suited to Biscuit-Making', 'Winter Wheats', 'Wheats for January to Mid-February Sowings', 'Wheats for Mid-February to End-of-March Sowing', etcetera. We are proud to republish this antiquarian volume, now complete with a new introduction on farming.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRead Books Ltd.
    Release dateSep 6, 2016
    ISBN9781473354159
    The Cereals - With Information on Cultivation, Harvesting and Care of Various Cereal Crops

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      The Cereals - With Information on Cultivation, Harvesting and Care of Various Cereal Crops - Read Books Ltd.

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      THE CEREALS

      WHEAT

      THE cultivation of wheat was begun in prehistoric times and the cereal was greatly valued by the ancient Persians, Greeks, and Egyptians. Cultivated wheats seem to have originated by the accidental hybridization of certain species of wild grasses, and the varieties now grown have been evolved by the selection of subsequent mutations and by hybridization, either accidental or artificial.

      Wheat, since it is the favourite cereal for the production of bread, is the most important of the corn crops. Each grain of wheat consists of an embryo plant in close contact with an ample store of starchy and nitrogenous food material, the whole being surrounded by a pericarp or coat, which goes to form the miller’s bran. Flour consists of the most digestible portion of the food store, and is obtained by subjecting the grains to a milling process. The admirable qualities of wheaten flour depend largely upon the nature of the nitrogenous portion, which is in the form of gluten. When the flour is prepared for the baking process some of the starch is converted into sugar, which in turn is broken up by the action of the yeast, with the formation of carbon dioxide gas, whereby the dough is puffed up into a spongy mass. The so-called strong wheats have a high gluten-content, and the dough produced is of a tough, rubbery nature that prevents the escape of gas and produces a light, well-risen, even-textured loaf. The diastatic power of wheat, i.e. its capacity for producing sugar, is also important, and sometimes bakers have to blend malt extract with flour of poor diastatic quality. Other things being equal, the best flour from the baker’s point of view is the one that yields the largest number of loaves per sack.

      Milling of Wheat.—Before milling takes place the wheats are blended, so that the flour produced will be of the desired strength for baking purposes. In modern flour-milling the wheat is first of all subjected to a very thorough cleaning process. Not only does this remove weed seeds and foreign matter that would injure the quality of the flour, but also gets rid of stones, pieces of iron, and scraps of material that would be likely to injure the delicate machinery used in the milling process. The milling proper is done by passing the grain between a series of rollers of increasing fineness and closeness of setting, so that the berries are cracked and the endosperm or floury portion is liberated with the least possible breaking up of the dark-coloured bran. At each stage the material issuing from the rollers is sorted out, by means of sifting machines and fans, into materials of different grades and degrees of fineness. When wheat grown in this country is milled for white flour, about 68 per cent. of the grain is recovered as flour, but the best imported wheats, subjected to the same process, yield up to 74 per cent. flour. The final products of the milling process are: (1) Flours and semolinas of different grades; (2) wheat germs; (3) middlings, sharps, thirds, pollards, or weatings, which may or may not be separated into fine and course grades; and (4) bran, which again may be separated into broad and medium. Higher rates of extraction, such as 80 or 85 per cent., give rise to flours of a lighter or darker shade of greyish-brown. These, owing to the inclusion of part of the germ and more of the aleurone layer, have a much better vitamin content (vitamin B) than the ordinary white flour. When the rate of extraction is raised above 85 per cent. the flour necessarily contains more of the fibrous outer layer of the grain, and is therefore less digestible. Methods of milling devised during the war and based on analysis of the various parts of the wheat berry, aim at retaining the vitamins as far as possible while eliminating as much as possible of the bran. It is possible by these methods to get a flour which is almost white and which yet contains practically all the valuable nutrients of the grain, the extraction rate being about 83 per cent.

      Quality of Wheat.—Wheat is valued according to its suitability for milling purposes. A good milling wheat should yield the largest possible proportion of flour and a correspondingly small proportion of milling offals; this quality is indicated by the thinness of the bran and the largeness of the wheat grains, large grains having a relatively smaller surface than small grains, and consequently a smaller proportion of bran. It is essential that the wheat should be in a sound condition, free from odours and indications of heating; it should also contain a minimum of weed and other foreign seeds. The wheat should be hard, as hardness indicates the presence of a minimum proportion of water.

      Wheats of good quality for bread-making have a horny or flinty appearance and an absence of flouriness when the grain is examined in cross-section, and they possess a high protein-content. Yet the converse is not true, as wheat may have a hard translucent endosperm and yet not be strong. Weak wheats are usually soft, starchy, and opaque; but a weak wheat can be given a strong look by nitrogenous manuring and early cutting. Actually the rapid ripening that takes place in dry, hot countries favours the development of strong wheat, whereas in this country the moist atmosphere and slow ripening are conducive to the development of soft grain. While some wheats may require favourable conditions to produce grain of good baking quality, the fact that strength can be inherited independently of everything else means that the choice of the variety is the most important factor in the production of strong flour. It should be noted that whereas strength is required in wheat for bread-making, weak wheats give the class of flour required for most sorts of biscuits and many kinds of cakes. Other varieties that are not particularly good either for bread or biscuit-making find, when supplies are abundant, a ready market as poultry food.

      If wheat is being bought for seed purposes it should be plump, with a smooth, well-filled skin, and show every indication of having attained perfect maturity at harvesting; it should bear no signs of weathering in the field or heating in the stack, should be free from bunt, and should be as free as possible from weed seeds, a condition of much greater importance in seed wheat than in a sample for milling. By far the best measure of seed value is, however, the result of a well-conducted germination test.

      The best wheat from the farmer’s point of view is not necessarily that which will bring him the highest price per quarter from his corn merchant. In growing his wheat he must aim at a maximum profit per acre, and this may be attainable only by growing a variety of slightly inferior quality that is a heavy yielder. He should aim at a maximum yield of grain, provided that the quality is not so inferior that a poorer yield of better milling value would give a greater monetary return. A high yield of straw may also be desirable. To attain this end he must select varieties which are suited to the soil and climate of his district; varieties resistant to the diseases that may infest his farm; and, should his land be in good heart and capable of producing a maximum crop, varieties which have sufficient root system and strength or shortness of straw to prevent the lodging of the crop.

      Varieties of Wheat.—Wheat, in common with many other gramineous plants, is practically always self-fertilized. Under ordinary conditions each sort breeds perfectly true, and selections from individual plants of outstanding merit will lead to disappointment, as the crop raised from the selected ears will go back to the old standard. How, then, have the dozens of varieties of wheat come into existence? Some, no doubt, have been developed from rare cases of mutation or of cross-fertilization under natural conditions. The great majority of our wheats, however, have been produced by artificial cross-fertilization of pre-existing distinct varieties. The exchange of germ-plasm brought about in this way leads to the evolution of new varieties, some good and some bad, and from these varieties, after a long and laborious process of selection, improved wheats are continually finding their way into general cultivation.

      The following wheats are recommended by the National Institute of Agricultural Botany. It should be understood, however, that new and promising varieties are under test, and that the list may be amended from time to time:—

      Winter Wheats of High Milling Quality.—Holdfast.—White grain and chaff. Ripens slightly earlier than Yeoman, with shorter straw and better resistance to lodging. Should be used only on soils of medium and heavy physical texture in a high state of fertility, and under these conditions it has a wide range of adaptability. Holdfast is very liable, in wet harvests, to sprout in the ear, and special priority should be given to it at harvest.

      Redman.—A red-chaffed variety of the Yeoman type and producing grain of almost equal quality. Suitable for medium to heavy soils in high fertility.

      Warden.—Ears of medium density with white chaff and grain. The straw is of medium length and does

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